Stop Animal Exploitation Now: http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/
Top research university offenders * USDA animal welfare violations *
University of Nevada, Reno — 46 in 10 months. * University of California,
San Francisco — 51 in three years * University of Florida — 47 in three
years * University of Connecticut — 43 in three years * University of
Pennsylvania — 36 in three years Source: USDA documents, Stop Animal
Exploitation Now, Inc. and news stories.

A national research watchdog organization has dubbed the
University of Nevada, Reno the “worst lab in the nation” because it
accumulated more federal animal welfare violations in less time than any
other research institution.

“UNR has broken federal law 46 times in less than one
year, and these serious violations jeopardized the lives of dozens of
animals,” said Michael A. Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal
Exploitation Now, an Ohio-based animal advocacy group. “The University of
California San Francisco lab, that we previously named as the worst, had
only 17 violations in a comparable period of time. UNR eclipsed that in
just a period of months, so they essentially tripled the UCSF record.”

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited UNR
for 46 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and levied a “reduced”
fine of $11,400 against the university system. UNR paid the settlement
rather than fight the citations and risk the “higher civil or criminal
penalties” threatened by the agency.

Marsha Read, interim vice president for research and dean
of UNR’s graduate school, said the group’s designation of UNR as the
nation’s “worst lab” isn’t credible. She said that’s because Stop Animal
Exploitation now “does not have published standards for animal care
programs and their goal to abolish animal research presents a conflict.”

The 46 USDA violations included seven incidents of
depriving animals of water, three incidents of animals being deprived of
food or fed in an unsanitary way, three citations for inadequate
veterinary care and six in which the university’s Institutional Animal
Care and Use Committee failed to enforce the Animal Welfare Act.

Read made a distinction between the mistreatment and
neglect of animals cited by the USDA and “abuse” of animals.

“I want to underscore that the USDA investigation did not
result in any findings of animal abuse,” she said. “...We have implemented
the majority of recommendations for facilities and administrative
improvements from these reports and implementation of the remainder is in
progress. As President John Lilley has firmly stated, we are committed to
the appropriate and humane treatment of animals under our care.”

A USDA official said this week the agency doesn’t keep
statistics of the number of inspections or citations issued. But news
reports about federal animal welfare violations at other universities
support the research group’s contention that UNR has collected more
violations in a shorter period than any other research university.

The animal rights advocates said their goal to end animal
testing has nothing to do with the facts of the case because the numbers
can’t be dismissed.

“UNR (has) a truly dismal record,” said Budkie, an animal
health technician trained at the University of Cincinnati who said he has
been working on animal lab issues since 1986. “When compared with other
labs mentioned in our reports, UNR is far and away the worst in the nation
even though they are pretending the USDA citations are no big deal.”

Budkie said his group was founded in 1996 and is dedicated
to educating the public about animal exploitation, abuse and waste of
research dollars. He said UNR’s $11,400 fine is “grossly inadequate”
considering the severity of the violations. But he said because the USDA
has “a record of lax enforcement of animal welfare problems at
universities,” it’s significant that UNR was fined at all and received so
many citations.

“When universities are fined, the standard is a few
hundred or a few thousand dollars,” he said. “As research labs go, UNR is
relatively small and so even a reduced fine of $11,400 is remarkable. But
in the long run it isn’t much money; it’s not going to make much of a
difference.”

A federal Office of the Inspector General report on USDA
concluded in 1996 that the agency has a history of levying fines that are
almost meaningless to offenders. The agency “cannot assess monetary
penalties for violations unless the violator agrees to pay them, and
penalties are often so low that violators merely regard them as part of
the cost of doing business.”

Lilley last week said the penalty was a “nominal” fine.

Darby Holaday, USDA spokesman, said the agency is doing
its job. He said it acted swiftly to investigate animal abuse and neglect
complaints lodged against UNR by College of Agriculture faculty
whistle-blower Hussein S. Hussein.

The USDA report confirms agency inspectors and
investigators made five unannounced visits to the campus between September
and March and verified 24 violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In
addition, the investigators took sworn affidavits from witnesses and
collected photos and other evidence to document 22 other violations. The
agency didn’t cite UNR for the deaths of 45 pregnant sheep who died in
October 2002 after being left without food or water for up to four days,
an incident the College of Agriculture Dean David Thawley has said remains
“a mystery.”

Holaday said the agency will continue to monitor UNR’s
progress in complying with the Animal Welfare Act.

“Because of the university’s prior non-compliance
investigations and violations, we’d certainly recommend more inspections,”
he said.

Jane Tors, UNR spokeswoman, said the institution welcomes
further scrutiny.

She said UNR generated $121 million in sponsored and
research projects last year, and about a third involved animals. According
to USDA reports, the university system last year had 1,854 animals that
fell under federal regulations, with 283 of those animals — including 198
sheep — subjected to experiments in which pain and suffering are
alleviated by drugs.

“We have continually made improvements over time, and will
continue to do so in the future,” Tors said. “For example, we have
invested $350,000 in animal facility improvements over the past few years.
A new on-demand watering system was installed for (pigs) at the Main
Station Farm last fall. More recently, the University has been focusing
time and resources on recommendations by agriculture and research experts,
and items noted through the most recent USDA inspections.”

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